OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has invited the provinces to push forward Senate reform, telling them that they should come to some agreement quickly on how to change the upper chamber.

Failing that, he said, they should agree to abolish the place.

“If the provinces believe, as I do, there should be reform, they should bring forward those reforms forthwith. If they don’t believe that, they should bring forward amendments to abolish the Senate,” Harper told the Commons Tuesday.

Harper made the challenge days after saying his government was giving up on Senate reform given the restrictive path the Supreme Court of Canada had set for making changes. It also came after NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair charged that Harper was making an about-face on his position to bring about major changes to the upper chamber.

The roadmap the top court laid out last Friday requires the agreement of the seven provinces with half the country’s population — the “7/50″ rule — to establish term limits for senators or create a national framework for consultative elections. The court said unanimous consent from all provinces was needed to abolish the Senate.

That decision eliminated Harper’s hope for an easy path to amend the scandal-plagued chamber.

Harper said again Tuesday that there was no national interest in engaging in constitutional negotiations.

“The Supreme Court has ruled in its wisdom that the federal government can neither abolish the Senate, nor can the federal government actually propose reforms, significant reforms, to the Senate,” Harper said. “That is all now, according to the Supreme Court of Canada, within the purview of the provinces. So my position … has not changed.”

Provinces have given no indication that they’re ready to run with Senate reform. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, one of the most outspoken premiers on Senate reform, told reporters last week there was no consensus nor interest in going ahead with Senate reform.

“Not very long ago in the federation … the country would have been very close to having met a 7/50 threshold,” Wall said Friday. “It certainly was a national issue. It remains an issue that’s current, but it’s not a top priority.”

The Supreme Court decision was not surprising to observers inside and outside of the Senate, many of whom expected the court to find the government’s proposed Senate Reform Act unconstitutional. That has left senators to pick up the pieces of Senate reform, debating changes to the upper chamber that can be accomplished without touching the Constitution.

“We have to say, all right, it’s now up to us,” Senate Liberal leader James Cowan told the Citizen after the court’s decision. “We have a responsibility to make our institution the best it can be.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Some senators have already said they’ll take action, though at a personal level. Conservative senators Vern White and Linda Frum told the Citizen they don’t plan to serve until the age of 75, even though that is the current allowed retirement age. Rather, they indicated they are prepared to step aside at the right time in their term so new blood can join the upper chamber.

“People should not stay for a period in excess of eight to 12 years,” said Frum, who was appointed in 2009 and can legally serve until 2038. “For any organization, that is an appropriate amount of time in which you can make a contribution (and) you can stay relevant.”

White said this week that he committed to serve nine years in the Senate when he entered the red chamber in 2012, although he could legally serve 22 years. “I’m not suggesting that Vern White at 60 … is no longer bringing value to the Senate,” he said. “I’m suggesting others would bring new ideas.”